They are more vulnerable, which you recognize. I'm not going to go around needlessly reminding them of that. But pretending they aren't and acting as if they aren't isn't doing them any favors.
seriously. it's going to get to the point where you can't call a gay person gay, they have to be referred to as heterosexually-challenged.
You can call them gay all you want. It's when you refer to something bad/negative as gay is what the problem is. I do it all the time too.
From the parent of a severely Autistic son, God Bless you for taking a stand. Using the R word in front of the special needs community is akin to using the N word in front of the African-American community.
This is a perfect example of the euphemism treadmill--- I'm indifferent as a result. People are just going to have to live with the fact that unpleasent things happen to perfectly pleasent people, and that sometimes, people (through no fault of their own) aren't born with the same abilities as others. Or they can keep on shifting the words to hide that simple truth.
That's not what OP wants. Whatever group is pushing this wants to eradicate the word from the face of the earth. It is seriously idiotic. Hey guys I don't like being referred to as a male okaaaay, It has some bad connotations so let's just go ahead and start calling all males "penile competent individuals"! Thaaaaaaanks!
It's a pretty dumb viewpoint to say that the word didn't begin with reference to mentally challenged people. You are arguing that it morphed in to something else but that doesn't mean the roots of the insult weren't aimed at mentally challenged individuals.
Some of the context of the excuses here is identical to that of the examples he cited. I quit using the word long ago, knowing too many people that the word would hurt or offend, and understanding I should choose my words more carefully. I get that people aren't going to stop insulting people who are generally not mentally handicapped with words that somehow or another mean they are stunted in a way that they really are not... but r****d is one of them that I've chosen to try not to use. That said, idiot used to be a word meant to describe mentally handicapped people, and I would suspect in today's context it is less offensive because it is no longer used in that context (because it became an insult and thus offensive). So I suppose it is cyclical. Still, we keep up with other trends, it can't hurt to realize this one. Maybe when the word r****d is evolved and removed in our culture altogether from meaning someone with a real mental disability then it won't be so hurtful when it's flung as a way to insult "normal" people, but things are not that way now.
This is what I'm talking about. Unfortunately this issue brings out the mama and papa bear in families and ends up being counterproductive to the cause. I'm not criticizing you, Granville. I have a ton of respect for you as a parent of a child with a severe disability but what started as a simple campaign to raise awareness with a video with celebs and cute kids has turned into an ugly exchange that's not really going to have any of the effect those who initiated the campaign would have intended. These things are a nice idea. It's fun to see famous people talking about things that are important to you. But these things rarely have any positive outcome from the target audience.
I'm actually pretty sad that people like you roam the streets. You think that you're funny but all you offer up are lowest common denominator insults that make you look less than the person you think you are. I actually feel bad for you because you don't realize the fool you've become.
This project should have started in the 80's it's way too late to bring any respect back to the word "r****ded". It's just time for new terminology to replace r****ded just like they changed moron and idiot (etc) for the cognitively impaired decades ago.
True. I looked it up myself because I heard that word thrown around the playground all through elementary school and never knew what it meant. And asking your classmates what something meant would only lead to some smart-*** answer. Wish we'd had urbandictionary back then... There are also a few other uses of the word related to the "bundle of sticks" meaning, such as this book - I have seen music students with something similar: German for "bassoon" and still seen in a lot of classical music - so really, if I say there are two fagotts in every orchestra, I'm not being rude. As for "r****d"... as long as we still get to say "ritard" in music, which means slow down... that's been that way for years. Though it does invite some immature jokes sometimes.
Can r****ds call each other r****ds? (just saying...asking) While I don't go around calling people names and never referenced a challenged child with an insult, I am of the "PC is BS" crowd.
